Calling Namdhari the key conspirator, the prosecution said: “He has confessed to having shot Hardeep with his pistol when Hardeep pointed his gun at him.”

The sacked Uttarakhand minorities commission chairman, police said, was Ponty’s “front henchman” and plotted with him to trespass into the farmhouse that was in Hardeep’s possession.

However, coming out of court, Namdhari told mediapersons he did not fire at Hardeep.

Metropolitan magistrate Sandeep Garg gave the police five days’ custody of the BJP member.

Namdhari was arrested on Friday on the basis of the statement of Ponty’s bodyguard Bhupinder Singh Bisht, who was held last week for assaulting Hardeep’s men.

Indicating a larger conspiracy, the police said: “It is a deep-rooted conspiracy involving big business stakes. Many big people are involved in this shootout. We need to interrogate Namdhari to unearth the whole plot. We need to recover the weapon used and his associates who were involved.”